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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1985.140
Title
Knee Fibula
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
pin, fibula
Date
late 2nd-early 3rd century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304391

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Mixed copper alloy
Technique
Cast and hammered
Dimensions
3.8 x 2.1 cm (1 1/2 x 13/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Mixed Copper Alloy:
Cu, 78.05; Sn, 2.96; Pb, 7.8; Zn, 10.57; Fe, 0.13; Ni, 0.03; Ag, 0.05; Sb, 0.07; As, 0.34; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.01; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is pale green with some brown corrosion. The object is intact, although the catchplate is bent.

The body of the fibula was cast, probably by the lost-wax process, with the surface designs created in the wax model, while the pin was made separately by hammering. The pin is attached to the body of the fibula by a thin rod, which seems to have been inserted into one end of the crossbar. The pin inside the crossbar may have been iron, since iron corrosion products are visible, but it is no longer magnetic. The surface shows rough finishing marks.


Carol Snow (submitted 2002)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Jerry Nagler
Accession Year
1985
Object Number
1985.140
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This knee fibula is intact. The pin is hinged onto the fibula, attached at the cylindrical head. The curving bow is thickest at the head, which curves smoothly to join the hinge (1). The bow tapers toward the foot, where it flares slightly; it is semicircular in section. The rectangular catchplate is perpendicular to the bow and has a deep notch in one side, forming a hook to hold the pin.

Named after their distinctive bent bows, knee fibulae were popular in Britain and the Danubian provinces of the Roman Empire from the second to third centuries CE (2).

NOTES:

1. Compare R. Hattatt, Brooches of Antiquity: A Third Selection of Brooches from the Author’s Collection (Oxford, 1987) 261-72 and 374-75, nos. 1239 and 1402, figs. 84 and 123; and I. Fauduet, Fibules préromaines, romaines et mérovingiennes du Musée du Louvre, Études d’histoire et d’archéologie 5 (Paris, 1999) 46, no. 59, pl. 9.

2. See Hattatt 1987 (supra 1) 261-72, figs. 81-84; S. Ortisi, Die früh- und mittelkaiserzeitlichen Fibeln, Römische Kleinfunde aus Burghofe 2 (Rahden, 2002) 34-36, nos. 293-94, pl. 18; and D. Mackreth, Brooches in late Iron Age and Roman Britain (Oxford, 2011) 190 and 192, no. 7679, pl. 132.

Lisa M. Anderson

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu